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Originally called Chaminade High School for Boys, Chaminade College Preparatory was founded in 1952 on the former site of the Pacific Military Academy in West Los Angeles by members of the Marianist Province of the Pacific, who were seeking to expand their educational mission into Southern California. The school became nationally famous for the celebrity students who attended the school or came to its dances. The school's mascot name, the Eagles, can be traced to a tower at the school that featured an imposing Army Eagle emblem in tile, with the beak pointed toward the arrows as in wartime.
The high school moved to its current location in West Hills (then part of Canoga Park) in 1961 after the brick buildings of the original campus were deemed unsound. A junior high school serving grades 7–9 was formed in 1967 when the former St. John's Military Academy in Chatsworth was leased by the school, expanding Chaminade's educational program from four to six years. A seventh year was added in 1989 with the addition of a 6th grade class to the junior high school; the ninth grade was moved to the high school campus that same year to accommodate the addition of the sixth grade to the junior high school, which would then become the middle school.

The school became co-educational in 1972, with the first female graduates in the Class of 1974. Chaminade's two campuses served as the primary locations for the 1976 film The Pom Pom Girls.[2]

Grading
The school year is divided into two semesters and classes meet every other day for 87 minutes. Chaminade issues
three progress grade reports per semester; however, only semester grades appear on the student’s permanent record
at the end of each semester, in January and in June. It uses a 4.0 grading scale as follows: A = 90–100, B = 80–89, C = 70–79,
D = 60–69, and F = 0–59.

Advanced Placement & HonorsThere are a total of 23 Advanced Placement and 18 Honors courses offered. In order to maintain a balanced course
load, students are not allowed to take more than 8 year-long AP courses: 1 in 10th grade, 3 in 11th grade and 4 in 12th
grade. In 2014, 473 Chaminade students took 911 AP examinations. Of the total exams taken 17% were a perfect score of
5, 22% were a score of 4, and 24% were a score of 3. With a score of 3 or higher, students may earn credit at many
colleges and universities, it is also considered a passing score.[3]

In 2013, The Girls' soccer team won the CIF Southern Section Division I [5]

In 2013, a Chaminade Equestrian rode into 2nd place at Interscholastic Equestrian League [6]

In 2013, the Boys' Varsity Football team won the CIF Championship, CIF Regional Championship and CIF State Championship.[7][8]

In 2014, the Boys' Varsity Basketball team won the CIF state championship.3rd State Crown this season.[9]

In 2014, the Boys' Varsity Fencing team won the California State High School Fencing Championships.[10]

In 2014, the Chaminade Wrestling team won 4 medals at the Mission League Finals. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place.[11]

In 2015, the Girls' Basketball team won the CIF Southern Section Open Division championship.[12]

In 2015, the Men's Combined Fencing Team won the State Championships.[13]

In 2014, a column by LATimes reporter Eric Sondheimer identified Chaminade as one of a number of elite prep schools contributing to the professionalization of high-school sports. Noting that coaches at these schools are hired and fired based on their win-loss records, and that the schools' administrations rely heavily on transfer students to stack athletic teams with all-star players, Sondheimer concluded that if Chaminade's practices are the "new normal," then, "the original mission of high school sports is headed for extinction." [14]

In 2013, five Catholic orders released the confidential personnel files of a dozen priests and nuns accused of sexually abusing minors throughout previous decades. The files revealed that Priest Joseph DiPeri was accused of molesting a student at Chaminade High School in 1977-78. The school's administration was informed at the time, but no further actions were taken. A letter from an LAPD detective in the file noted that, "There was no mandatory reporting at the time of the alleged incident."

The files also included sexual abuse allegations from 1973-74 against Charles George Fatooh, who worked at both Chaminade's High School and Middle School campuses. Fatooh was voted Teacher of the Year in 1975, and became principal of Chaminade Middle School in 1979. [15]

In August, 2017, an unnamed teacher was placed on leave after school officials sent a letter home to parents informing them of "credible evidence," that inappropriate physical conduct between the teacher and student(s) had taken place. Chaminade did not name the teacher in the letter to parents, or in any other public statements.

School officials said they hired an independent investigator to review the case. According to local news, a parent whose son was in the teacher's class said, "He seemed like such a nice guy, was really good to my son who just got out of the hospital so it's a bummer." The LAPD confirmed an open investigation into the allegations.[16] The school also received criticism from alumni for their refusal to name the teacher in question. [17]